Proposal Development

1. Proposal Development CRC FYAP April 28, 2011 By: Julie Wammack

2. Steps for Proposal Development/Submission • Look for funding that matches your research interests/needs • Identify the funding program • Read the Request for Proposals guidelines • Prepare proposal • Obtain institutional approvals • Submit the proposal to SRS

3. Contact SRS – As Soon As Possible You establish a working relationship with the administrator who will process your proposal The administrator will be able to provide tips based upon the funding agency Any questions about the proposal process can be answered 3 day submission policy Documents needed for SRS PI Responsibilities/SRS Responsibilities

4. Review ALL Proposal Documents Funding Announcement – RFP, Solicitation, Bid, Application Package Application Instructions Agency Guidelines All these documents provide information pertinent to your proposal These instructions must be followed or you risk the proposal being rejected for non-compliance Be sure to review carefully all documents related to your proposal!

5. Request for Proposal (RFP) • Program Description • Award Description • Eligibility (Limited Submission?) • Funding Limits • Deadlines – Due Dates for Submissions • Review/Evaluation Criteria • Award Administration • Reporting requirements, etc.

6. Natl Endowment of the HumanitiesChallenge Grants – Deadline 5/4/11 • Institutions that support research, education, preservation, and public programming in humanities disciplines are eligible to apply for an NEH challenge grant; institutions may apply for only one NEH challenge grant in a calendar year. • The federal portions of NEH challenge grants have ranged in recent years from $30,000 to $1 million • Successful applicants will be offered a matching grant. Recipients must raise three times the amount of federal funds offered • Challenge grant funds, federal or nonfederal, may not be used for . . . recovery of indirect costs . . .

7. Proposal Application Prepare the application Download the application forms from the agency website or upload the proposal documents for grants.gov, Fastlane or other sponsor-specific electronic submission programs Check with the SRS to see if they handle any of the required forms Fill-out forms in the application and attach items that must be included (Abstract, Project Narrative, Budget, Budget Narrative, Biosketch, Current/Pending Support, etc.)

8. Standard NSF Grant Application • Project Summary – 1 page • Project Description (narrative) – 15 pages • References • Biosketches – 2 pages – specific format • Current/Pending Support • Facilities/Equipment • Data Management Plan • Postdoc mentoring plan if requesting support for a postdoc

9. SRS Internal Documents • Transmittal Form • Scope of Work • Budget • Budget Justification plus - • All other agency-required documents

10. Transmittal Form • Funding Announcement/Request for proposal (RFP) or solicitation number • Project Period Dates & DEADLINES • Name of PI/Co-PIs and departments involved • Distribution of the indirect costs between the participating departments • Special commitments • Financial Conflict of Interest • Items that may need further review or certifications

11. Certifications • FSU must provide certain assurances, representations, and certifications when proposals are submitted or when accepting an award • Special Certification may include • Animal subjects • DNA/RNA use • Human subjects • Hazardous chemicals • Use of the FSU Marine Lab facilities

12. Institutional approvals • Attach the entire agency application along with the RFP to either OMNI or the Proposal Transmittal • Route to all PI’s for signature or OMNI approval • Route to all associated Chairs and Deans for signature or approval • Route to Sponsored Research Services for their approval

13. Submitting via OMNI • OMNI proposal submissions include the same information as a hardcopy proposal submitted with the Proposal Transmittal Form • Differences • You attach the items electronically in the OMNI system • You can route the proposal electronically • Advantages • You can track approvals electronically • No running around • Electronic records are available 24/7

14. Submission Policy 3 Day Rule - The Vice President for Research instituted a policy effective on February 1, 2006, that states that a proposal must be submitted to Sponsored Research Services (SRS) by 9am three working days prior to the Agency deadline You may work on the technical narrative until 9am on the day of submission SRS needs ample time to review the proposal and the commitments the University is making Subcontracts or collaborations are also subject to this rule

15. Monday the previous Wednesday at 9 A.M. Tuesday the previous Thursday at 9 A.M. Wednesday the previous Friday at 9 A.M. Thursday Monday of the same week at 9 A.M. Friday Tuesday of the same week at 9 A.M. *Saturday and Sunday are not business days and do not count towards the 3-day rule. You should treat Friday as the deadline, so the internal proposal deadline is Tuesday of the same week at 9 am. *Some agencies move weekend and Federal holiday due dates to the next business day – but it needs to be verified by the sponsor. Sponsor SRS InternalDeadline Deadline

16. What Happens at Sponsored Research Services • We review the RFP • We review the complete proposal for conformity with the RFP and FSU policies and regulations • We review any special commitments that are being made • We make sure all parties have approved the proposal • We check the budget

17. Budget Development 1. Direct Cost Categories • Salaries & Wages, Fringe Benefits • Equipment, travel, supplies, tuition, etc. 2. Facilities & Administrative/Indirect Costs or “overhead”

18. Direct Costs • Direct costs are those costs that can be identified specifically with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity, or that can be directly assigned to such activities relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy.

19. Indirect Costs – Overhead – F&A • Indirect costs are those that are incurred for common or joint objectives and, therefore, cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity.

20. FSU’s Indirect Cost Rates Indirect Cost Rates are applied depending on the following: • Type of Agency • Location of Project (on/off campus/Mag Lab) • Type of Project • Solicitation

21. Budget – Types of Projects Research • A systematic study directed toward fuller scientific knowledge and understanding gained of the subject studied Instruction • The teaching and training activities of an institution Other Sponsored Activity • This includes programs and projects which involve the performance of work other than instruction or organized research

22. F&A Bases F&A Base Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) consists of all salaries and wages, fringe benefits, materials, supplies, services, travel, and subgrants/subcontracts up to the first $25,000 of each subgrant/subcontract MTDC excludes equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, tuition remission, rental costs of off-site facilities, scholarships, fellowships, and the portion of each subgrant/subcontract in excess of $25,000 Typically applied to federally-funded projects

23. Sample MTDC Salaries $50,000 Equipment $10,000 Supplies $3,000 Publications $2,000 Tuition $7880 Total Direct $72,880 MTDC Base $55,000 Indirect Costs $25,850 Total Requested $98,730

24. F&A Bases F&A Bases Total Direct Costs (TDC) – consists of all direct costs FSU policy is to always exclude matriculation from F&A base Typically applied to non-federally funded projects

25. Personnel Salaries & Wages • Include faculty, technicians, post-docs, graduate students, & other personnel who are assigned to the project NOTE: for Federal projects administrative & clerical personnel normally fall within the indirect costs category and cannot be charged as “direct costs”

26. Fringe Benefits • Faculty/A&P/USPS • Retirement • Health Insurance • Social Security & Medicare • Worker’s Comp & Unemployment • OPS Students • Worker’s Comp & Unemployment • OPS Non-students • Medicare • Worker’s Comp & Unemployment • Terminal Leave Pool http://www.research.fsu.edu/contractsgrants/documents/factssheet.pdf

27. Consultants • Outside individuals with expertise and skills that will add value to project • Normally, faculty & other FSU staff should not be paid as consultants • Costs are usually listed in terms of daily rate • Certain sponsors may limit the daily rate • NSF abolished limitation on daily rates in 2006 • Consultants never listed in the salaries & wages section • Consultants are typically paid in the form of a subcontract

28. Equipment • Items costing $1,000 or more with a useful life of 1 year or more • Equipment should be detailed and justified in the budget • Requests should include only those items of equipment needed to complete the project

29. Supplies • Supplies and materials related to the project • Items of minor equipment costing < $1,000 • Can be listed in budget as broad categories such as glassware, chemicals or art supplies NOTE: For Federal projects, routine office supplies are normally treated as an indirect costs, such as paper, pencils, post-it notes, etc.

30. Travel • Project-related travel is usually allowed and may include trips necessary to collect data, to present findings at a professional meeting, for meetings with program officers or collaborators, etc • Reimbursement of costs should be consistent with FSU’s travel policy • Most agencies want a break-down of funds requested, such as airfare, hotels, car rental, etc.

31. Subawards/Subcontracts • Represents a collaboration of work by one or more other institutions • Contractual agreements for services or goods with an outside party are not included in this category • Costs for subawardee is presented in a separate line item and should include both the subawardee’s direct and F&A costs • A subaward detailed budget should be included as part of budget justification • Subawardee’s F&A costs are calculated in accordance with subawardee’s negotiated F&A rate agreement

32. Subawards / Subcontracts If a collaboration is proposed we will need the following from each collaborator • Letter of commitment from authorized person • Scope of work for their activities • Budget • Budget Justification

33. Other Direct Costs • This category contains all other proposal costs, i.e., animal per diems, publication charges, graphic fees, matriculation, communications, shipping, etc. NOTE: Postage, local telephone, and memberships are normally treated as F&A costs on federal projects

34. Matriculation • Matriculation costs (minimum of 9 hrs) should be included for graduate assistants supported by the project • Graduate Matriculation Rate for 10-11 is $291.86/hr • If matriculation costs are not included in budget, an alternate source for paying must be identified • FSU excludes matriculation from F&A calculations in all proposals

35. Matriculation • Multiyear proposals should include a 10% increase in matriculation costs annually • Out of state matriculation is not an allowable cost in most circumstances • College of Engineering may apply out of state rates to their proposals • Certain training grants allow out of state matriculation. Check the sponsor guidelines • Fees are not an allowable cost unless applying for a training grant

36. Submission to Sponsor • Who is responsible for submission to the agency or sponsor? • Hardcopy proposals = PI • Electronic proposals = Sponsored Research Services

37. Notice of Intent to Award • The proposal has been sent off, and the funding agency has now made a funding decision • This can be in the form of: • Letter to PI and/or Sponsored Research • Email • Funding agency electronic funding mechanism • A grant or contract arrives in the mail

38. Agency Award Information • This intent to award typically states the following: • That your application has been selected for funding • Next step requirements of the funding agency • Revised budget • Scope of work • Animal subject protocols • Human subjects approvals • Revision of time period for project • Certifications • Anticipated start date of the award • NOTE: A grant or contract received in the mail also requires some of the items listed above

39. Additional Information • If new budget or scope of work is needed: • This typically occurs when a funding agency reduces the amount being funded from what you requested. If you are being funded a significant amount less than requested, typically your scope of work should be reduced • You will need to work with Sponsored Research Services and your department to obtain the required approvals for your new budget and time commitments to re-submit to the agency

40. Advance Spending What is Advance Spending? • It is the internal set-up of a budget number from which you may begin work and start spending • NOTE: you may not begin working on a project without an award or advance budget number in place • Request for Advance form can be found on www.research.fsu.edu • SRS looks at many factors • Anticipated award date • Agency pre-award spending regulations • Agency assurance of award • Department Guarantee of Advance Request • Implications of an advance • Financial • Research / Personnel

41. Questions?